The invention relates to wheel chairs. The invention provides an improved apparatus for occupant control of wheel chair propulsion. The improvements of the invention each taken alone or in combination add to resolve the problems of the prior art.
Otto in U.S. Pat. No. 4,322,093 discloses a wheeled walking aid with seat and hand brake. Otto's walking aid does not provide a drive mechanism.
Schaeffer in U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,509 discloses a propulsion means for wheel chairs which requires two drive assemblies.
Lucken in U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,729 discloses an occupant propellable wheel chair, which like Schaeffer requires two drive assemblies.
Dews in U.S. Pat. No. 834,368 and Trullinger in U.S. Pat. No. 1,620,926 each discloses a hand operated wagon.
Davis in U.S. Pat. No. 1,154,616 and Sink in U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,825 each disclose a hand operated two wheeled vehicle.
Lorbeski in U.S. Pat. No. 2,135,347; Saxton in U.S. Pat. No. 413,104; Welch in U.S. Pat. No. 2,732,221 and Steel in U.S. Pat. No. 504,685 each discloses a hand operated front wheel driven vehicle.
A deficiency of the prior art is the lack of a single lever and mechanism to control the magnitude and direction of propulsion of a wheel chair.
Another deficiency of the prior art is the lack of a conveniently stowable wheel chair. The improvements of the present invention beneficially provide a folding wheel chair having a single lever and mechanism to control the magnitude and direction of propulsion.